The present application relates generally to an improved hand operated reaching device and more specifically to a hand operated reaching device for accessing elevated doors.
Many homes, buildings, and other dwelling structures make use of elevated doorways and associated ladders. For example, a large majority of homes have elevated doorways for accessing attics of these homes. These doorways are typically provided in a ceiling of a room of the structure, e.g., a house, and have attached foldable ladders on one side that are able to be extended down to the floor of the house once the door of the doorway has been pulled down and locked into a locking position.
Typically, a person is able to access the doorway by way of a pull rope, string, or cord attached to the door of the doorway and which hangs down from the elevated location of the door towards the floor, i.e. from the door that is mounted in the doorway provided in the ceiling of the house downwards to the floor of the house. While these pull ropes, strings, or cords provide a mechanism by which a person call pull the door down to gain access to the doorway, the pull rope, string, or cord must be present and attached to the door at all times, even when not being used to pull the door down to gain access to the doorway. This means that when the pull rope, string, or cord is not being used to access the doorway by pulling down the door, it hangs down from the door in the ceiling towards the floor. This tends to be an eyesore, especially in situations where the doorway is provided in a ceiling that is higher than average ceiling heights, e.g., so-called “cathedral” ceilings or the like, since the length of the pull rope, string, or cord must be significantly longer due to the need to extend the pull rope, string, or cord to a height above the floor that is reachable by an average person. Moreover, in cases where the ceilings are higher than normal or the person trying to access the doorway is shorter than an average height, it may be difficult for the person trying to access the doorway to reach the pull rope, string, or cord in order to be able to pull down the door to gain access to the doorway.
Furthermore, in cases where the pull rope, string, or cord hangs down from the door of an elevated doorway, the pull rope, string, or cord may represent a nuisance to persons passing by the pull rope, string, or cord in that they may run into it while passing. This is especially true for persons that have greater than average height.